Up Next

Barcelona Terror attack: Aussies injured

Barcelona Terror attack: Aussies injured

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed three Australians have been hurt when a van mowed people down in a popular tourist spot, killing more than a dozen people and injuring around one hundred more.

Up Next

Journalist discusses Bannon's rogue interview

Journalist discusses Bannon's rogue interview

In an interview with The American Prospect, Steve Bannon said there's no military solution to North Korea and described the white supremacist movement as "a collection of clowns." The journalist who spoke with him talked about their chat.

Republican presidential candidates on the stage for the debate. Photo: AP

Fox News host Chris Wallace began by challenging any of the 10 candidates to raise their hand if they could not promise that, should they not win the Republican nomination, they would not run as an independent.

Standing centre stage Trump, who has dominated the early weeks of the primary campaign, raised his hand.

Advertisement

Libertarian senator Rand Paul used the moment to jump in, accusing Trump of hedging his bets.

As the debate went on, Trump maintained his bombast, even criticising one of the Fox News hosts, Megyn Kelly, who had asked him about apparently misogynistic comments he had made in public in the past.

He ducked a question about his history of supporting Democratic causes and was unable to discuss policy in detail.

But he maintained his hard line against undocumented immigration from Mexico, a topic he has made central to the campaign.

"They send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them, they don't want to take care of them. Why should they, when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them?" he said to loud applause. "And that's what's happening, whether you like it or not."

Jeb Bush gets a touchup from a makeup artist before the debate. Photo: Reuters

When candidates did get the chance to address issues, the debate was combative but often constructive.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Rand Paul fought over the government's data retention program, highlighting a true competition of ideas within the GOP.

Christie stood by his view that the eligibility age for the pension should be raised by two years, a position that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee energetically rejected.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who stood beside Trump but seemed keen not to be noticed, and Marco Rubio, the young Cuban-American senator, debated federal government education standards.

Of all the candidates, Rubio - known to be viewed as a serious threat by Hillary Clinton's campaign - looked the best prepared and most polished.

The debate also revealed how conservative the Republican Party has become on abortion. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, another of the favourites, stood by his position that abortion should be banned even in cases of rape or incest or when a mother's life was threatened. Others agreed that they would defund Planned Parenthood, the non-profit organisation that provides maternal and child health services - and abortions - in the US.

Huckabee advocated granting full rights to foetuses from the moment of conception.

One of the few candidates on the stage prepared to break with conservative orthodoxy was Ohio Governor John Kasich. He stood by his support of Obamacare and the Supreme Court's recent decision to legalise gay marriage.

"Look, I'm an old-fashioned person here and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said that the court has ruled … and I said we'll accept it," he said.

"And guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do doesn't mean that I can't care about them or I can't love them."

Earlier in the evening the seven candidates running last in the polls attended their own debate in an empty and echoing arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive who spoke crisply and concisely, was widely seen as the winner there, and Google confirmed that more people conducted searches on her name than any other during the contest.

Fiorina managed to introduce herself, duck hostile questions and even land a blow on Trump when asked about his success.

"You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into," she said.

"I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern?"

Asked about what their first actions in office would be should they win, each of the seven focused on things they would undo rather than do.

They would repeal Obamacare, scrap any nuclear deal with Iran, rescind all US President Barack Obama's executive actions - including his recently announced directives to cut carbon emissions by 32 per cent.

Senator Lindsey Graham appeared determined to focus the national political debate on foreign policy, and vowed that in office he would return US combat troops to Iraq and deploy them to Syria.